This large rock is either “tumble” or part of the Roman era wall. To remove it we broke it into pieces and carried them out.
While excavating to find the northeast corner of the monumental building I ran into a lot of pottery pieces, or potsherds. Can you find any in the picture?
We went up on the flying saucer tower for a group photo. I took this wide view of our work areas from there.
The wet sifting station provides opportunity for those who are not as physically able to do the digging. Frankie Snyder, who found the lead tablet in Mount Ebal, supervises this area.
Instead of definitively finding the northeast corner, we unearthed three complete pottery vessels. We bagged the vessels separately so they can be reconstructed.
Here’s Frankie doing wet sifting.
Here’s a flint blade I found today.
Here’s how I left it at the end of the week. I was able to excavate to the second course of stones near the end of the wall. I had to stay away from the buried pottery. We think we’re near the corner. More excavation in our quarter square and the one adjacent will bring more clarity. The later structures repurposed stones from the original building, making a complex puzzle.